Gérard Depardieu Gives Up French Citizenship, Defends Belgium Tax Move

Actor slams Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault for calling him "shabby" and unpatriotic

By Rebecca Macatee Dec 17, 2012 4:15 PMTags
Gerard DepardieuIan Gavan/Getty Images

Mo' money, mo' problems, right, Gérard Depardieu?

The actor renounced his French citizenship and slammed his home country's prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Sunday. In an open letter published in Le Journal du Dimanche, the Life of Pi star promised to hand over his passport and social security card.

"We no longer have the same country," he wrote. "I'm a true European, a citizen of the world, as my father always taught me."

Ayrault said the actor's move to Belgium was "shabby," adding that "paying a tax is an act of solidarity, a patriotic act."

According to Depardieu, he is paying an 85 percent tax on his assets in France. In Belgium, he will no longer be subject to this..

"I never killed anybody, I do not think I'm unworthy, I paid 145 million in tax in 45 years, I have 80 people working in companies that were created for them and which are managed by them," the actor wrote.

"Who are you to judge me, I ask you, Mr. Ayrault, prime minister of Mr. [François] Hollande, I ask you, who are you?" he added. "Despite my excesses, my appetite and my love of life, I am a free being, sir, and I'll be polite."

C'est la vie.